Harvested cotton is typically formed into a bale or module and transported to a gin for processing. Recent developments in in-field processors such as on-board cotton baling or module forming provide substantial potential for improved productivity. However, conventional cotton processing and the infrastructure associated with the conventional processing continues to dominate the cotton industry. Transitioning to handling crop bales or modules formed on a harvester has been a source of difficulty.
Additional difficulties are encountered when a bale or module of harvested material is supported within a wrap such as plastic sheet or netting to protect and maintain integrity of the formed material. When processing seed cotton, the handling system must be able to effectively separate all the cotton material from the wrap before the baled seed cotton enters the cotton gin. Wrapped cotton loses bale shape integrity quickly as the wrap is removed, and therefore substantial difficulties must be overcome to provide a system that advantageously utilizes the wrap to maintain a compact and clean entry configuration while allowing full cotton removal, eliminating spillage, and providing reliable wrap removal.